Fed Official Calls Bitcoin ‘Worthless’ Asset after 12 Years of Existence

On Oct 15, 2024 at 10:33 am UTC by · 3 mins read

Neel Tushar Kashkari, President of the Minneapolis Fed, dismissed Bitcoin as a worthless asset despite its notable past performance.

Neel Tushar Kashkari, the Minneapolis Fed President, recently stated that Bitcoin BTC $84 284 24h volatility: 2.4% Market cap: $1.67 T Vol. 24h: $48.35 B as an asset class remains worthless even after its 12 years of existence. He further stated that despite the longevity of crypto, it hasn’t been able to establish itself as a viable form of currency.

Despite Kashkari’s remarks, Bitcoin has delivered remarkable performance over the years, gaining 9% in 2012, 59% in 2016, and 171% in 2020. So far this year, Bitcoin has outpaced major asset classes, with its volatility rising as the US prepares for what Jefferies investment firm has called the “Bitcoin elections”. Over the past month, Bitcoin is up 10%, and it has surged 48% so far this year in 2024.

However, the last quarter of Q3 has been more or less difficult for Bitcoin with the asset class returning flat returns of 0.8% by September end. On the other hand, Bitcoin’s rival Gold outperformed it with 13.8% gains during the last quarter.

On the other hand, the demand for spot Bitcoin ETFs is also growing following the successful launch earlier this year. The inflows into the BTC ETFs have also surged with $555 million in inflows on Monday. This is the largest single-day inflow in four months since June 5, 2024. This clearly shows that the institutional demand for the asset class continues to remain strong despite all the headwinds.

Bitcoin Price and US Elections

Apart from the macro developments, the US elections would have a strong impact on the Bitcoin price moving ahead. While Donald Trump has been attracting crypto investors right from the start of the Presidential campaign, his Democratic opponent Kamala Harris is also making similar moves. On Monday, Kamala Harris extended her support for clear crypto guidelines if she gets elected at the White House.

Both presidential candidates have pledged to foster a more crypto-friendly environment to support the growth of digital assets. However, Donald Trump has been particularly outspoken on the topic. Speaking at the Bitcoin Conference 2024 in Nashville, Tennessee, he vowed to make the US the global hub for cryptocurrency if elected. Some market analysts believe that the Donald Trump victory would be very positive for Bitcoin.

Apart from the political scenario, on-chain metrics also support a BTC price rally ahead. As per the CryptoQuant data, the Bitcoin reserves on all centralized exchanges (CEXs) are currently at an all-time low. These declining reserves show that investors are more optimistic about the asset while moving BTC into cold storage for the long term.

On the other hand, the Bitcoin open interest is at an all-time high of $19.8 billion, showing that traders are building up long positions for BTC.

“This upward trend in the derivatives market indicates a growing influx of liquidity and increased attention in the cryptocurrency space. The rise in funding rates further points to a bullish sentiment among traders,” CryptoQuant noted.

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